


Arcades and cinema

by hisaribi



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Post-Nogitsune Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 04:05:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15597927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hisaribi/pseuds/hisaribi
Summary: It’s been at least a week after Nogitsune happened, and Stiles was on a shaky grounds. For some reason, this way he attracted Boyd and Erica. Probably, if he read the situation right.





	Arcades and cinema

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SpookyMiscreant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpookyMiscreant/gifts).



> Sorry, I can’t fluff to save my life! Though that’s more of hurt/comfort fluff, with slices of life! I swear, I tried!

Stiles’ car was broken, and that sucked so much he couldn’t even comprehend. It left him with a few opinions of how to reach school.

The first one was to ask Scott for a ride, but this one was more like a nominal one because Stiles would prefer eating his own pants to driving this death trap. Yes, dad’s and deputies’ words did affect him hard enough so he was really afraid of motorbikes. And also Scott could possibly dump him for sake of Kira. Probably he could’ve asked anyone else from the pack, but, as far as he knew, nobody who owned a car lived in the general direction of his house, and nobody would really make a detour to get him.

The second one was his dad or Parrish. Yeah, that was a corruption, use dad’s position to make deputies ride him. Sheriff station lost a big chunk of people who would actually drive Stiles around though. As for his dad, well, he could be way too busy or just came back from night shift, and they lead to early grave, so he kind of didn’t really want to bother him, not after what happened a few weeks ago with Darach and Nogitsune.

The third one was simple, to take a bus. And that was the one he actually chose.

It was impossibly early for Stiles because he usually just left his house like half an hour before classes and he had ten more minutes to spare. And now he had to leave an HOUR before classes, and ugh, at that time he was still asleep.

He didn’t really sleep that well, because Nogitsune still haunted him. He also probably looked like death, and it was bad enough, that he only found power in himself to take shower, but not to put any products on his hair. So his bangs got frizzy in unholy angels, and he also needed to cut it, it almost covered his eyes.

He probably looked ridiculous and even younger, but it felt like such a distant thought. Stiles didn’t really look at himself lately. Not after what _they_ did.

The bus stop was filled with just as sleepy high schoolers as he was, so Stiles didn’t really feel bad about himself. Probably.

It was going to rain shortly, so Stiles put the hood on and hid his hands in pockets as if it would make him feel less cold. As if.

He was vividly aware of his surrounding, and he knew well enough that it could lead him to a mental breakdown. Probably his chemosignals screamed of anxiety, but he had at least half an hour till he would reach school. During the ride, he would do this breathing exercises Ms. Morrell gave him on their first session right after the possession, and he would have his normal level of anxiety smell, so werewolves wouldn’t freak out that much.

Of course, he didn’t get lucky, because in the back of the bus was Boyd. Stiles stopped and even thought that, probably, riding a bike could be a plausible fourth option, he did it in middle school, he could do it now. The bus driver closed the door and the bus moved. Also, Boyd looked up at him from the window, meeting his eyes directly. No way to escape, great.

Stiles smiled shakingly and went to sit right next to Boyd. Well, if his day would probably have a panic attack in it, better to deal with it earlier. Or it wouldn’t, who knows. Stiles sat down and was kind of surprised that Boyd didn’t say something along the ‘this place is not for you’ line. Or ‘we aren’t even friends’.

Aaaand Stiles came back to his anxious vicious circle again. Great. At least now he became self-aware enough to feel it and try to stop it.

“You look good with your hairs down,” Boyd said instead of greeting.

“Woah, you are so nice so early, that’s a surprise. Usually, people are gruff in the morning,” Stiles laughed a little bit breathlessly.

Maybe Boyd just felt really bad for Stiles, because, well, his hair being down probably did nothing to cover his sickly face. Also, Boyd was almost killed by his own girlfriend possessed by a fly that _they_ controlled, he should be angry at Stiles. Yet, he wasn’t. Probably. Stiles hoped so.

“You just used up all my niceness for a day,” Boyd huffed and fell silent.

“Yeah, I do this to people, suck all happiness and so on,” Stiles waved his hands.

“Nah, you aren’t dementor enough.” Boyd sounded serious. Stiles was happy to get a Harry Potter reference, but he wasn’t sure if he should laugh or not. He didn’t feel like laughing.

“Shame, they can fly at least,” Stiles answered just as serious.

They looked at each other for some time. Stiles was the first to avert his eyes. He didn’t feel comfortable enough to look directly at others, because he saw only judgment there or disappointment. Ms. Morrell said it wasn’t true, nobody blamed him for what he did while being possessed, but Stiles wasn’t so sure.

He heard Deaton telling pack, that ‘the possessed individuals can only do things they are capable of without a spirit inside, that’s the rule’. So Stiles was capable of killing, and everyone in the pack knew it now.

Well, breathing exercises wouldn’t happen, so Stiles counted fingers. Maybe he was still asleep, his dreams were lucid enough he sometimes couldn’t be sure if they weren’t real.

Maybe he should combine breathing and counting.

Thankfully, Boyd didn’t say anything anymore. He also probably moved closer, because suddenly Stiles felt warmer.

And, well, they didn’t really comment on it anyway.

* * *

 

School felt just as cold. Stiles regretted not putting on a jacket, even though he already wore a t-shirt, a plaid, and a hoodie. he just, couldn’t really make himself warm anymore.

It felt like the pack was avoiding him. Well, it wasn’t like Lydia or Jackson ever noticed him aside from life and death situations. Same was true about Allison and Isaac, they all kind of became closer during this Nogitsune fiasco, and one of the most unifying things was almost dying because of thing that wore Stiles’ face. Hell, Allison had to become a werewolf to survive, and Isaac still couldn’t really look at him without flinching.

Scott wasn’t anything really new as well. He was high over heels in love with The Girl, and it made her the center of his universe. Ms. Morrell discussed this with Stiles, and, probably, for Stiles himself, it was for the best to avoid Scott as well. Because Stiles knew this feeling of being Scott’s only priority, and now, when he wasn’t, it gained him some new perspective and pain.

He didn’t know Kira well enough, and she felt guilty because Nogitsune happened only because of her mother. Stiles didn’t blame her, she needed some time to adjust to the supernatural, and was way too sweet.

Erica and Boyd, well, they were detached from Stiles after what happened in Gerard’s basement. They didn’t really have a chance to become closer anyway, with all the alpha pack, sacrifices, and evil Japanese spirits– Let’s just say Stiles didn’t think he was the person they would like to eat with.

And Isaac would sit with them anyway.

So here Stiles was, in the middle of the cafeteria with a tray in his hands and unwillingness to either sit alone or bother the pack. He looked over and saw geek-guys. Well, it’d been a while since he talked to them, but anyway, they wouldn’t protest if he sat near them. Probably he would crack a joke about being bitten by a radioactive spider, and only getting radiation, and they would talk about new comic books or games. That’s simple enough and not personal, he could manage.

“Stiles,” Erica’s voice sounded right behind him.

Stiles jumped and almost let go of his tray. He turned around. Erica looked not impressed. She began wearing less makeup, and her clothes became less what it used to be in this short period between being bitten and being kidnapped. More normal, and that was a great look on her.

“Woah, what’s wrong, Batman? Jumpy bit?”

“Yeah, and my Catwoman tiptoed silently. Whats’up?” Stiles smiled, feeling his heart beat really loud somewhere in his throat.

Erica could hear it, she also could smell his anxiety. She frowned, looking at him from top to toe.

“Come to sit with me and Boyd?” she sounded a little bit uncertain, and he could kind of see the pre-bite girl, who had a crush on him. Well, used to have one. Stiles shrugged.

“Yeah, sure, why not.”

Erica looked almost surprised, and Stiles tried to shut the voice telling him, that she only pitied him and wasn’t expecting him to actually come. He hated this voice, because of how loud it became. It was always there, whispering, but easy to ignore, and now it was screaming inside his head.

Boyd looked nonchalant when Stiles put his tray in front of him and sat down. Erica also sat next to Boyd and began eating. They were close enough to touch. They did it a lot after the alpha pack, Stiles noticed. Also for some reason, they didn’t sit with other packmates, not really.

“You stare,” Boyd said. He didn’t sound annoyed, a little bit puzzled maybe.

“I do.” Stiles nodded and looked up to meet his eyes. “But I don’t look at you, I look at the space, and your bodies just happened to be in the space I look at.” He gazed at his food and didn’t really feel like eating.

Now that he thought of it, he didn’t really eat this morning. Probably, his meds and soda didn’t count, he just didn’t feel hungry. That was bad, actually, he knew it was.

Erica chuckled at his weird phrasing. Well, Stiles was delighted that he was still funny to anyone.

“Anyway, we are going to go to the mall after school, wanna come?” Erica said, still a little bit uncertain.

That made Stiles angry. Pity-party, yeah, just what he needed. He saw Erica flinch and Boyd move a little bit to cover Erica. Crap. Stiles didn’t know what his face looked like, but, probably, something that screamed murder. They didn’t deserve it, so he took a few anchoring breathes.

“Yeah, I’ll go. But I don’t have a car, so I can’t really drive us there.” Stiles said, trying to smile.

“That’s ok,” Erica said, visibly relaxing. “We are going to take a bus there.”

“We thought about going to arcades and cinema,” Boyd added.

Stiles blinked and looked at them both. Oh, they wanted to go on a date and just decided to take Stiles with them, because he looked really bad. His fingers twitched and he looked down. Well, they could always dump him at any moment, but arcades and/or cinema sounded good.

Way too good to be the truth. The voice in his head didn’t help.

“Yeah, sounds good. Are others going?”

If they did, Stiles would have more people to leech to. Also, it’d been a while since Stiles went to a crowded place that wasn’t school.

“No,” Erica answered. “They are boring and no fun at all, so why would we even ask them to come.”

“And I’m fun,” Stiles chuckled. “Well, I probably do look fun.”

‘Or dying’ the voice said. ‘You can use your look to get discount if you act ill enough’. Stiles paused, because just now voice sounded way too hoarse to be his own.

Stiles looked down and counted fingers. Ten, every time. He obsessively counted his fingers, until he felt something really warm snuggle up to him on both sides. He looked up, and noticed Erica and Boyd moving to him and now sitting on both sides. They didn’t look at him and kept eating.

“So,” Stiles began, but the voice just stuck in his throat, so he had to cough. “So when and where do we meet?”

He took the apple from his tray and bit into it. He still didn’t want to eat and he felt like throwing up, but anyway. Food was good.

“After classes near the main exit,” Boyd said.

“Also if it’s raining, wait for us under the roof,” Erica added.

“Yeah, mom,” Stiles said, and it sounded way too bitter. Way to go.

“Well, if you want to explore this kink,” Erica said playfully and winked.

“Does this make Boyd my daddy?” Stiles asked, chuckling.

“You are either adopted or Erica’s then.” Boyd shrugged.

“Oh, did she cheat on you? That’s suck, man.”

“I did not!” Erica said loudly, putting the fork down.

Stiles looked at her and bit the apple. Boyd chuckled, put his hand on Stiles’ back and patted him.

“He is your son until the sunset.”

Boyd kind of moved Stiles to Erica, like he didn’t weight anything. He probably didn’t. not to Boyd anyway. And he lost a lot of weight during Nogitsune, hell, he lost his whole _body_.

Well, he was still all for goofing around, so he turned toward Erica and put his legs on her laps and the bench, not really sitting on her, but certainly becoming an obstacle. He put his hands around her neck.

“Mom, who my dad really is?” Stiles pitched his voice high, while Erica looked both at him and Boyd with terror in her eyes and half-smile on her lips.

“Yeah, mom, who his dad really is?” Boyd parroted, hugging Stiles from behind and putting his hands on Stiles’ torso. Well, that was warm and way too much at once. He was kind of between two werewolves, two alive beings, who didn’t flinch because they looked at him.

“You are adopted, Stiles. And you also are older than I am. And I hate both of you,” Erica pushed Stiles’ hands from her shoulders, and he kind of just leaned toward Boyd.

“Oh no, you’ve taken the broken child, you really need to turn to the social service and change them.”

Erica looked at him with a frown, and Boyd hugged him closer. Stiles knew they looked at each other and, probably had a whole nonverbal conversation.

“Get a room, you three!” Someone, probably Garret, screamed while leaving the cafeteria.

“We would get a classroom, that’s probably more fun!” Stiles shouted in answer, not even moving from Boyd’s arms or Erica’s laps. Erica blushed a little, and Boyd took a sharp inhale.

“Or you can get a detention, Stilinski.” Coach Finstock loud voice made Stiles sit up flailing and then stood, almost falling.

Finstock looked at him with this pointed gaze.

“Or I wouldn’t,” Stiles said, raised his brows and hands, still holding an apple.

“Yeah, giving you a detention would feel like kicking a sick and wet kitten, who is blind and don’t have a leg. Do you feel well?”

“I do.” Stiles nodded.

“Yeah, right. Try not to fall and hit your head, you have midterms coming.” Coach Finstock, for some reason, put the hand on Boyd’s shoulder. “You, make sure he survives till lacrosse season begins, I’ll need him.”

“Yes, coach,” Boyd said without any emotions. Probably because he didn’t really want to, but was way too nice to really say so. And also didn’t want to end up in a detention.

“Good kid. Now, finish eating and go to classes,” Finstock patted Boyd once again, looked over Erica, and then at Stiles. “God, Stilinski, I hope you aren’t on drugs,” he muttered.

“I wish,” Stiles answered without thinking. He felt Etica hitting him. “Ouch!” He looked down at her, and she made big eyes at him, like asking if he was sane. He wasn’t.

“Yeah, right,” the coach muttered and went away frowning.

“I think I just broke the coach,” Stiles said sitting down.

He felt eyes of others on himself, and he was used to it. He was a class-clown for last seven years, he, kind of, liked being the center of attention, even if he looked like shit. Did he overcompensate something? Who knew. Not Stiles for sure, and probably Ms. Morrell would try and talk to him about it.

He was taught to trust guidance counselors, so he still did. Even if she previously was an alpha pack emissary who kind of could’ve to lead to the death of Boyd, Erica and the pack overall. She was a damn good doctor, alright?

Boyd didn’t say much after that, and Erica began venting on movies they could watch.

* * *

 

Buses were fun if you didn’t really care about all these people around. Actually, it wasn’t really about buses and more about this worldview of a passenger. Stiles was so used to drive and only care about the road in front of him and the destination point, that he kind of forgot everything around existed.

Erica was sitting and looking at her phone. Boyd and Stiles stood near her, leaving their backpacks on her knees. Stiles actually wanted to fish out his phone and play a little but using his phone in a moving vehicle used to give him nausea. Used to, Stiles was way too afraid to try it now.

Boyd was close, the solid body near him. Well, he did make Stiles a little bit warmer.

None of them said anything about Stiles keeping quiet. That was rare because his father, Scott and, actually, everyone around him was commenting on it. Stiles grew quiet, became still. Not destructed, that had always been his trait, but distant. It freaked people out, and Stiles didn’t have it in him to really care.

But neither Boyd or Erica said anything, and that was nice, kind of.

So Stiles allowed himself to relax a little bit.

* * *

 

The last time Stiles ever went to arcades was before this autumn. Some fellas from school called him to join, and Stiles, feeling really bad after they couldn’t find Erica and Boyd, agreed. He tried not to feel guilty about it last time, and yet, he couldn’t really have fun at that time. Though fellas didn’t really notice, because they didn’t have a super smell, and they weren’t really close to know Stiles’ facial expressions.

This time he came with Erica and Boyd, and he still felt guilty, because he was having fun when people _they_ killed were rotting six feet under the ground. He counted fingers when they waited in the queue to buy tokens.

His guilt didn’t really help and would only spoil Stiles’ mood even further. He knew this logically, and yet, he couldn’t shake this feeling.

Erica slowly and softly put her hand on Stiles’ and tugged him away.

“I didn’t buy tokens yet,” Stiles protested weakly.

“I bought for everyone. Anyway, Boyd went upstairs to buy tickets to ‘The Adventures of Tintin’.”

“Isn’t that a cartoon?” Stiles asked, not really caring. He’d read about this one and had even seen some earlier cartoons as a child. His mother really enjoyed European cartoons and movies, though dad called them weird.

“Is that a problem?” Erica asked, leading him to one of the fighting player versus player machines. She put her backpack down, and Stiles mirrored her action.

“Nope, Tintin is awesome. Also, I’ve read they used some really new and cool technologies to make it, though it doesn’t seem to be that popular.”

Erica put two tokens in the arcade and took the place of the first player. Stiles took the second one.

“Well, that’s not like there is a lot of choices, other movies are some horrors, thrillers or melodramas.” Erica chose a character, that was a nice choice, this one was strong and had almost instant kill grab if combined with the combo and special skill.

“Yeah, dead season,” Stiles nodded and picked another character. This one was fast and had some tricks to be able to deliver a long-ranged damage, and also the agility to get away from the grab. Now everything depended on the reaction speed, and, well, Stiles didn’t have the best one now, not only compared to a werewolf.

“Though, The Fields looked quite interesting.” They both hit start.

“The one about the New-York detective in Texas?” there began a countdown.

“No, this is Texas Killing Fields, and I’m talking about the horror one.”

Well, they didn’t have a chance to continue their conversation, because fight already began. Stiles knew most of the combos and where to hit, while Erica hit the same buttons over and over again.

That was effective, actually, especially when she cornered Stiles’ character. Well, that’s not like Stiles would give up so easily. He slid his character under Erica’s one legs and used one of the strongest hits this charact was capable of, then moved away, to proceed with long-ranged hits.

Eria growled out of annoyance and went to Stiles’ character. It didn’t end well, because he had enough mana for super combo.

Bam, 1:0 for Stiles. He smiled a little.

“You cheated!” Erica proclaimed.

“No, I didn’t!” Stiles said, putting his hands back on the buttons. “I just used what game gave to me efficiently.”

Erica looked like she had something to say, but the next round started. It ended even quicker because this time Erica was angry and wasn’t really paying attention.

“Hell yeah!” Stiles screamed, raising his hands in a winning move.

“Ugh, that’s not fair, I need a rematch!” Erica groaned.

“Nope, I won, you lost, deal with it.” Stiles smiled. “Though we can try and shoot zombies.”

“I will shoot more zombies than you will,” Erica huffed, took her backpack from the floor and went to the shooting arcade. Stiles chuckled and decided to take his backpack. Boyd was already there, holding it.

“How do you even stay so quiet?” Stiles asked, he probably didn’t have an ability to be surprised or scared anymore.

“I had sixteen years to stay unnoticeable,” Boyd said.

“Or,” because only Stiles was allowed to say self-deprecation in this group. “That’s because you were in the military and you are actually a spy.” Stiles smiled and patted Boyd’s shoulder, winked and took the backpack.

“Oh no, you uncovered me, now I need to kill you.”

“Thank God, I won’t have to suffer anymore,” Stiles huffed and turned around, to go to Erica, who kind of booked an arcade with three guns. He wondered if he roared at everyone who tried to come there.

Boyd put his hand on Stiles’ shoulder. “Do you really think that your life is suffering?” he asked quietly, Stiles almost didn’t hear him, though he did turn to him.

Some loud kids moved to the arcade they just played. One even pushed Stiles, so he would go away. Now Stiles was chest to chest with Boyd.

He was five inches taller than Stiles was, so he kind of had to look up. And Boyd also didn’t move away. He sighed and lead Stiles away from loud kids (though were they really kids, they were like only five years younger than Stiles).

“Is it really that bad?” Boyd asked in the hushed tone, and Stiles felt anger boiling in his veins again.

It was worse, actually. Stiles sighed and rubbed his face. Once again, Boyd didn’t deserve it. Nobody did, but Stiles. “Nah, that’s just mine self-deprecation jokes.”

It wasn’t a lie, not exactly. Everything was worse, and in all the jokes was a seed of truth. Ms. Morrell explained, that for werewolves it would feel like a truth, especially if they weren’t born one and weren’t taught to feel it. Peter could, Derek, probably, also could, but his classmates weren’t that used to have new senses and to interpret them.

She was like the most useful adult in his supernatural life. The second useful one was Peter and wasn’t that telling.

Judging by Boyd’s confused face, he didn’t grasp the lie. Stiles smiled. “Ok, let’s go to Erica, so she would beat our asses in this game.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Stiles turned around and went to Erica. “Took you a while, two lovebirds.”

“Well, we need some romantic plot for killing zombies, aren’t we? Now it would be dramatic as hell, I will die first, and will cry for my love.” Stiles said, putting his backpack down.

“Hey, I wanna be a love interest!” Erica said, putting tokens in.

“No you don’t, because in zombie-movies, and all horror movies, people who have sex die first, and if you are innocent you would probably be able to survive the longest period of time.” Stiles took the gun in the middle.

Boyd huffed, put his backpack near and took the right gun. “Also white people have higher survival rate, so, Erica, take care.”

“Ugh, you both are so not-fun,” Erica took the left gun. There was a cutscene on the screen. “But we always can choose an orgy and just die together.”

“Nooo,” Stiles whined. “I don’t want my ghost to not wear pants or underwear, that would suck so much.”

“Well, if you put it like that,” Erica frowned. “I also would like my ghost to at least look decent.”

“So, no romantic plots for us?”

The cutscene ended, so the game began.

“Who needs a romantic plot in survival horror. The whole idea of romantic love and making out when you’re about to be killed kind of kills survival part.” Stiles shot, first waves were always easier, so he kept talking.

“And what about the reproduction part?” Boyd asked.

“Usually survival horrors are short ones. You either die in the beginning or there is an ambiguous ending,” Erica explained, and Stiles kept shooting.

He used to come to shooting rank with his father, and it was fun to pretend he fought monsters, so shooting now felt kind of soothing. Only if the gun in his hand didn’t feel so light.

Stiles kind of wondered why Nogitsune didn’t use any kind of firearms. Boyd and Erica kept talking about horror movies, so Stiles tried to make sure he at least heard what they were talking.

They made it through the first wave, so the game cut to a cutscene.

“I think our life is horror enough to lose any steam for anything,” Stiles said. “Thankfully, not a survival one, just mystical.”

“Well, it felt pretty survival not so long ago,” Eria chuckled.

“Nah, more like one of this exorcism stories, though without a church and a handsome looking priest.” Stiles shrugged, a new wave came.

“As for me, it was one of these half-thriller stories,” Boyd added. “With kidnapping and so on.”

“Many-faceted horror stories, yay,” Stiles said, not missing zombies. Erica and Boyd had better reactions, but Stiles was a more skilled one, so as for now he had a better score than they did.

Not exactly a thing to be proud of, but it was fun anyway. Probably he needed to ask his dad to take him to shoot rank. Or Allison, kind of as an apology. Or even Boyd and Erica, because their shooting skills left much to be desired.

Boyd died the first. He didn’t seem angry about it.

“As I said, I didn’t survive long.”

“That’s because you shoot like a stick,” Erica called out, continuing shooting.

“Shoot like a stick,” Stiles huffed. “That’s a hilarious thing to say.”

“Well, at least I’m not the wood in the bed,” Boyd shrugged.

“Is he?” “Are you?” Stiles and Erica asked at the same time. Boyd inhaled sharply and shook his head.

“Neither of you tried me anyway.”

Stiles actually wanted to look at Erica's face, because she fell silent. Maybe she even blushed.

“And do you want us to try you?” Stiles asked casually. He saw Erica missing really hard, though it was already the end of the second wave.

The cutscene began and Stiles looked at Boyd, smiling.

“I wouldn’t oppose both of you.” He said with a straight face, looking from Stiles to Erica.

“That was smooth,” Stiles nodded and turned back to the screen.

“I didn’t even know he is capable of being like that,” Erica said. “Your new hairstyle affects him in the best possible way.”

“Hey, what’s up with my hair?” Stiles didn’t look from the screen.

“It just suits you better,” Boyd said.

“And also you look more innocent like that. Like you need all the hugs and protection in the world.” Erica added.

“Oh god, are you really Mufasa and Sarabi now, and I’m Simba?” Stiles groaned, still being able to shoot. Though gaining speed was a little bit annoying.

“I’m not licking you clear,” Erica said.

Stiles paused and looked at Erica, not even caring for his character possible death. She did have a reddish tint to her cheeks, and Stiles was rendered speechless.

“Stiles, the game,” Boyd said, effectively snapping Stiles from his half-destructed state.

Huh, that was weird.

* * *

 

Arcades were fun, they played for a while. Not much, because the movie was about to begin. So they bought a popcorn near the theater, and Stiles went to the grocery shop to buy drinks. It wasn’t allowed to bring things that weren’t bought an in-theater bar, but they put way too high price, and they all were not exactly broke, but it wasn’t something that they would like to spend their money on.

Erica and Boyd for whatever reason put Stiles in the middle seat and gave him caramel popcorn. The basket was for Erica and Stiles because they liked this one and Boyd preferred salty one. Though Stiles felt it was a better idea to give it to Erica because he still didn’t feel like eating.

During the movie, both Erica and Boyd moved as close as seats allowed. Erica put her head on Stiles’ shoulder, her leg close to Stiles’. Boyd leaned on the armrest on Stiles’ seat, while also touching Stiles’ via leg. They were warm, solid weight on both of his sides, anchoring him while also kind of allowing his mind to float toward the movie.

That felt weird. It’s been a while since he was really close to anyone, even just hugging. People, the one who knew what happened during the Nogitsune, began holding a distance, even his dad. So any kind of body contact was welcome. So Stiles didn’t really say anything.

If they wanted to have him as a third wheel, Stiles wasn’t really against it. Probably they needed someone to replace Isaac, who became really close to Allison and the company. Probably Stiles needed to make his brain to shut up because that was some toxic shit.

Anyway, the movie was both good looking, new technologies and so on, the plot was interesting, so he could care about how he got there later, and just try and grab this bright moment to himself.

He needed something bright in his life, just as much as everyone else, though he probably didn’t deser…

Erica snuggled to his hand, grabbing a little bit tighter. Damn chemosignals, everyone knew what Stiles felt.

* * *

 

It was cold outside the mall, the wind wasn’t really strong, but an unpleasant one. Stiles put on the hood.

“Oh, it’s already late,” Stiles said, fishing his phone from the pocket.

He sent Dad massage that he would go chill out with Boyd and Erica beforehand, so, at least, he could’ve been calm and not worry too much. There were some ongoing jokes about Stiles compensating Dad’s worries about him by trying to feed him healthy food in the sheriff station. It was true, though, especially lately.

“It’s dark already,” Erica nodded. “So, one more round of arcades?”

“We will take you home,” Boyd added.

“I’m flattered,” Stiles chuckled.

Dad only wrote ‘OK’, yeah, with caps, and Stiles tried to remember his schedule. He was at work now, and would be home really late, and would probably be way too tired to make some food, or would even buy take-outs.

“But I need to go home. Go have some fun at arcades, I’m sure Erica would beat your ass,” he waved a hand and moved to exit.

For a few seconds he was alone, then Erica and Boyd caught up. “Nah, arcades are only fun because of your win dance,” Erica said on his left. Boyd, on his right, nodded solemnly.

“Yeah, I’m deadly fun,” Stiles chuckled, because _they_ did find it fun. He didn’t really catch on it though, because otherwise, he would have problems.

“So,” Erica began after an awkward pause. “Do you think buses are still working, or it’s too late?”

“Idk, I’m mostly a car dude,” Stiles shrugged.

“They probably are, or there is one last, which is always way too full of people,” Boyd answered. Yeah, here went their bus dude.

“Ugh, too many people are so bad,” Erica sighed and fixed her hairs. “There are probably thieves, and I need my wallet, thank you very much.”

“Wouldn’t you be able to feel or hear someone stealing from you?” Stiles asked, genuinely interested in.

“Only if we would always think about it,” Erica said. “You would go crazy if you are always aware of everything your senses catch.”

“Yeah, I know, fun times,” Stiles said without a thought, taking his phone back to the pocket. “Probably enchanted feelings make it even worse, right?”

“Much worse,” Boyd agreed, while Erica, kind of, paused.

Stiles had to rethink what he just said, and crap. He acted just like a person who was in the nuthouse would, or should be right now. Ms. Morrell said, that it was going to keep happening until Stiles himself stop it, and he only hoped that he wouldn’t get in many troubles before he would get back to Eichen.

Eichen was cold and loud.

Erica carefully took Stiles’ hand in her and smiled a little, while looking away. Boyd did the same with his other hand.

Oh.

Stiles could be oblivious, and, probably, he was like that the whole day, but this kind of gesture? That’s not how the pack or friends acted, it was more intimate than that. It was a soft touch, gentle, and Stiles became confused. He didn’t pull his hands off, because yeah, he was cold, and they were warm, and also… did someone really touch him like that ever?

Three times he either had a makeouts or almost had sex were really awkward and girls led them the way they wanted. There was nothing soft and gentle, and he wasn’t sure how to react now.

Probably, Erica and Boyd decided, that they did something wrong, because Stiles fell silent, and tried to pull hands off, but Stiles didn’t allow them, squeezing a little. He didn’t look at any of them, so he couldn’t judge what their faces were like.

Stiles was the one to break the silence when they reached the uptown. He was just spilling nonsense about the movie they just watched, some trivia, everything to not be in silence, that felt a little bit awkward. Reluctantly, or maybe not, Erica and Boyd began answering.

* * *

They reached Stiles’ home in half an hour if Stiles’ phone to be believed. Dad wasn’t at home yet. Stiles let Erica and Boyd’s hands go and turned around to face them.

“So, that was fun, thank you for letting me on your date or whatever.” Stiles smiled, or, at least, tried to. Maybe in the darkness, they wouldn’t really notice.

“Thank you for making it ours,” Erica said and moved closer, peeking at Stiles’ cheek.

Stiles opened his mouth surprised and turned to her, and Boyd used this opportunity to also kiss him on the cheek.

OH.

“Oh,” Stiles said, looking at Erica and Boyd. “Right, uh...” Words failed him so hard.

Erica chuckled. “Have a good night, and when you are better, we can continue _our date._ ”

Stiles nodded, still having his mouth opened. He knew he wasn’t pretty this way, and, frankly, he didn’t care at the moment.

Boyd and Erica left, leaving him alone at the porch.

“Oh,” Stiles repeated because his mind went blank for a little bit.

 

He also didn’t put gel at his hairs the next day.


End file.
